331.86 
C41 p 


Public 
Employment Exchanges 


REPORT 
OF | 
THE COMMITTEE appointed by the Trustees of 
Tue City CLus or NEw YORK 
on December 17th, 1913, ‘‘to inquire into the need 
Pies. of public employment exchanges : ;, 
| in New York”? 


Morris L. Ernst, Chairman 
Joun B. ANDREWS, Secretary 





1914 


THE CITY CLUB OF NEW YORK 


55 West 44th Street 
New York City 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. : 


New YorkK’s UNORGANIZED LABOR MARKET 


Present Methods 
Unsystematic Search 
Newspaper Advertising 
Private Licensed Agencies . 


Philanthropic Institutions 


Inefficiency of Present Methods 
Cost per Job—Estimate 
Resulting Duplication 
No Intelligent Distribution of Labor 
Fraud 
No Basis for Study of Conditions . 


PuBLIC EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES IN EUROPE AND AMERICA 
England 
Germany 
France 
Switzerland 
United States . : 
[Map] 
Illinois 


Indiana . 
Wisconsin 


RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A SYSTEM OF PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT 
_ EXCHANGES IN NEw YorK STATE 

Tentative Budget 

Draft of Bill 


PAGE 


18, 


33 
34 


REPORT > > 
of ? 
The City Club of New York 


on 


Public Employment Exchanges 





INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 


The investigations of the committee have included 
(1) a survey of the existing methods for bringing the 
manless job and the jobless man together in New 
York state; (2) a review of the most approved methods 
now in operation in other countries and in other 
states; and (3) an estimate of the essential features 
to be considered in a plan to establish in New York 
state an efficient system of public employment 
exchanges. 


I. Existing Methods in New York State 


The labor market in the state of New York is in 
a chaotic condition and without a single public em- 
ployment bureau. The establishment in February, 
1914, of a municipal clearing house for information on 
employment in New York City is a promising first step 
in the direction of a public labor exchange. Of licensed 
private employment bureaus, managed for profit, there 
are within the City of New York more than 800, in 
addition to a large number of relief societies, religious 
and other philanthropic agencies, saloons, padroni, 
trade unions, and employers’ associations, which take 
some action in helping workmen to find jobs. These 
various agencies are not centralized, and on account 
of their very nature they cannot be expected to co- 
operate effectively of their own initiative. Many of the 
commercial agencies, according to authoritative state- 
ments, are vicious and should be put out of business. 


oe Public Employment Exchanges 


It is difficult for newspapers to detect fraudulent 
“Help Wanted” and “Situation Wanted” advertise- 
ments, and fraud breeds distrust. Indiscriminate ad- 
vertising is costly, wasteful, and often pernicious. 

Philanthropic associations, moreover, have rarely. 
been successful in operating employment bureaus. 
“The taint of charity” keeps the self-respecting work- 
men away, and the employer has learned not to ex- 
pect to find the most efficient help at such places. 

Disorganization leads to duplication. Scores of 
workmen waste time, temper, and shoe-leather in 
seeking the same job. The day’s tramp in some cases 
extends in large cities from one end of the munic)- 
pality to the other—in New York City from Brooklyn 
to the Bronx. One agency having an urgent call for 
machinists will not even be in communication with 
another agency having machinists eager for those jobs. 

There exists in New York state no effective means 
even for the collection of accurate statistics of unem- 
ployment. Without such information the movement 
for intelligent industrial training and for an important 
part of the program of social insurance must rest to 
a considerable extent upon the hazard of a guess. 

The one to suffer most as a result of this lack of 
organization of the labor market is the one least able 
to bear the burden—the jobless man. But the em- 
ployer also suffers the consequences of haphazard 
selection and lowered efficiency. Society, moreover, 
finds in irregularity of employment one of its most 
wasteful of industrial evils. 


II. Approved Methods Adopted in Other. Countries 
and in Other States 


Other countries and other states which have, in 
advance of New York, established public employment 
exchanges are already accumulating invaluable infor- 
mation and by its intelligent use day by day are 
gradually organizing their labor markets. 

In the principal countries of Europe as well as in 
nineteen American states public labor exchanges have 


‘Public Employment Exchanges -5 


been established. The function of these public ex- 
changes is to collect and distribute information be- 
tween employers and employees as to situations and 
applications for work. The labor exchange is a mar- 
ket for labor, where it is bought and sold at the prices 
prevailing in the market. 


Great Britain now leads other nations with the 
most thoroughly organized and wide-spread system, 
including the foundation since 1910 of 430 labor ex- 
changes staffed by full time officers with which there 
are 1,066 local connecting agencies for the administra- 
tion of a national system of unemployment insurance 
The total regular staff of these 1,496 offices in the 
United Kingdom is 3,536 persons. In Germany there 
are 323 public labor exchanges, through 267 of which 
in 1911 there were filled 1,055,784 positions. In France 
there are 162 public exchanges, most of which were 
founded since 1900. Switzerland has five state and 
eleven municipal exchanges which are required by 
federal law to continue their regular functions in time 
of a labor dispute, but to give notice of the dispute 
to all applicants, whether employers or employees. 


In the United States the public labor exchanges 
provided for by nineteen states and by twelve munici- 
palities have all been organized since 1890. They 
charge no fee, maintain a neutral attitude in time of 
labor disturbance, and fill positions, according to the 
official reports, at an average cost ranging from as 
low as 4 cents to about $2. In Wisconsin, where 
there are four state exchanges well organized on the 
most approved lines, the cost in 1911 was about 35 
cents per position filled. In Illinois during the twelve 
years, 1900-1911, there were 589,084 applications for 
employment, 599,510 applications for help, and 512,424 
positions secured. [Illinois now appropriates over 
$50,000 a year for direct support of its state labor ex- 
changes, of which eight have already been established. 


6 Public Employment Exchanges 


III. Recommendations 


An estimate of the essential features to be con- 
sidered in a plan to establish in New York state an 
efficient system of public employment exchanges, leads 
to the following recommendations: 


1. The establishment within the New York 
State Department of Labor of a Bureau of 
Employment. 


2. The organization under such Bureau of 
free public employment bureaus and appro- 
priate branches in the cities of New York, 
Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Utica, James- 
town, Albany and Binghamton, with provi- 
sion for local advisory committees made up of 
representatives of employers, employees and 
the general public. | 


3. Provision for careful records and sys- 
tematic reports, with authority to require uni- 
form reports from private agencies. 


4. No fee or compensation to be charged 
to or received from any person seeking em- 
ployment or desiring to employ labor through 
any of such offices. 


5. Absolute neutrality in time of labor dis- 
turbances, but information of the existence of 
a labor disturbance to be furnished to the ap- 
plicant, whether employer or employee. 


6. Ample provision for publicity concern- 
ing the work of the office and the state of the 
labor market. 


7. Sufficient appropriation to make the ex- 
changes efficient in the highest possible de- 
gree, for which $75,000 annually is regarded 
aS a minimum. 


I NEW YORK’S UNORGANIZED LABOR 
MARKET 


A. PRESENT METHODS 
Unsystematic Search 


The labor market, the most universal, the most 
vital, the most important of all exchanges, is still un- 
organized. The buyers and sellers of leather, of grain, 
of coffee—of any important saleable article—have 
well defined meeting places where information is 
accumulated and exchanges made. The places are 
called bourses, exchanges or markets, and many are 
so well known that no specific title is considered 
necessary. 

A manufacturer of kitchen tables would be 
ridiculous in every one’s eyes, if, at the door of the 
factory he hung his sign, “Kitchen Tables for Sale.” 
Instead, he takes his tables to the Furniture Exchange 
(in New York City located at 48th Street and Lex- 
ington Avenue) and there exhibits his product to 
buyers, who are also aware of this, the one place in the 
city commonly agreed upon, for the purchase and sale 
of tables. 

Imagine a man in the market to buy raw cotton. 
Consider the sight of a sign at his door, “Raw Cotton 
Wanted.” The fundamental analogy is complete. 

What is done with reference to labor? Do the 
buyers and sellers in this case go to a center for their 
mutual exchanges? By what business-like methods 
do the “manless jobs” and the “jobless men” come 
together? 

The first answer is this: “Workmen go from 
door to door, offering their services; and employers in 
need of workmen hang out the ‘Help Wanted’ signs.” 
(Third Report of the Wainwright Commission to the 
Legislature of the State of New York, April 26, 1911.) 
This sign “Help Wanted”, scrawled on a piece of card- 
board, is a symbol of inefficiency in the present disor- 
ganized state of the labor market. 


8 Public Employment Exchanges 


The haphazard practice of tramping the streets 
in search of this sign “Help Wanted” is no method at 
all. It does not assure the idle worker of success in 
his search for work or the employer in his search for 
labor. It necessitates, on the contrary, by its very lack 
of system, unnecessary unemployment. Of course, 
method and system, per se, will not prevent over-supply 
of labor or of jobs. They will do so no more than the 
Coffee Exchange guards against over- or under-supply 
of coffee. They will serve merely as levelers in the 
scales of labor supply and labor demand. 

A man, not recommended for a position by a 
friend or relative, often follows the easiest course—that 
of least immediate expenditure of money and thought. 
He starts from his home, and drops in at each and 
every sign of “Help Wanted” where he thinks he has 
a chance of getting the position. What effect can 
such procedure have, but to discourage the employer 
as well as the employable? It is this very same shift- 
less, footweary tramping which must foster the habit 
of unemployment, and must lead to vagrancy, much 
as vagrancy leads to crime. 

It is impossible to reckon the cost to a community 
of such waste of production, through failure of prompt 
and fitting sale of labor. One thing is certain, and 
this is that there is a tremendous waste of time, with 
resulting loss in production. But beyond that, there 
is the waste incurred by this accidental way of fitting, 
or rather, of not fitting, a man to a job. The law of 
chance decrees that, without more method than this, 
misfits must be the rule; and society now permits 
this daily process of attempting to fit a round peg into 
a square hole. 


Newspaper Advertising 


The second common method of connecting em- 
ployer and employee is through the medium of adver- 
tising. The newspapers published in New York state 
(numbering about 2,000) carry “Help Wanted” and 
“Situation Wanted” advertising to the extent of about 


Public Employment Exchanges 9 


800,000 columns in a single year. This costs the em- 
ployers and employees together, it is estimated, no less 
than $20,000,000 each year. The people of this state are 
taxed, not by law, but by present-day custom, to this 
enormous extent. What do they get for this ex- 
penditure? In the first place, of the more than ten 
million people in the state, about one-half (or five 
million) are non-workers—i, e., children; adults who 
do not engage in industry of any sort; inmates of hos- 
pitals, prisons, and asylums. This leaves a balance 
of five million workers, of which (at a conservative 
estimate) one-fifth, or one million, workers are fixed 
as to employment, in other words have some steady 
occupation, and are never in the market to sell their 
labor. ‘Therefore, by the process of elimination, we 
have in New York state four million people incurring, 
through advertising alone in an effort to buy and sell 
labor, the annual expense of twenty millions of dollars. 

Statistics presented later in this report (p. 27) 
show in contrast that public employment systems re- 
duce this community cost from $5 per “jobless man” 
to a sane figure of much less than $1, with better 
results. 


Newspaper advertising for the purpose of con- 
necting employer and employee also contains inherent 
possibilities of fraud. The three parties to the trans- 
action in this method are employer, employee, and 
the newspaper. The first party, the employer, wants 
to get workers. He makes his advertisement as attrac- 
tive as possible. He most certainly does not understate 
the attractiveness of the job, the possibilities of ad- 
vancement, or the salary to be paid. If he purposely 
misrepresents the facts, he surely will not bring him- 
self to court and start a self-prosecution. 


The second party, the employee, through igno- 
rance of his rights, the expense of court procedure and 
the slight possibility of any substantial gain in case of 
victory, rarely bothers to prosecute such fraud. The 
game is not worth the candle to a man who owns but 


10 Public Employment Exchanges 


one property in life—labor; for he is dependent for 
life upon the continuous and uninterrupted sale of 
that property. 

The third party, the newspaper, may be strictly 
honest, and perhaps would gladly stop any fraudulent 
advertising. But who will inform the newspaper of 
such deception? The logical result of deceptive adver- 
tising is fraud, distrust, and inefficiency. Indiscrim- 
inate advertising is the present-day expensive make- 
shift for the intelligent economical treatment of this 
large problem. The state of New York has no scien- 
tific medium for bringing together employee ana 
employer. 

Private Licensed Agencies 


The number of agencies conducted for private 
profit in the state of New York is about 1,000. Ap- 
proximately 800 of these are located in New York City. 

Here, again, we have allowed a system to develop, 
which, though it be quasi-public, is so full of fraud 
that each year stricter regulation and control are 
necessary. Not only does the state find it desirable 
to keep an eye on the practises of private agents, bu’ 
New York City has its own Bureau of Licenses, 
initially founded to prevent outrages upon ignorant 
wage-seekers by profit-seeking private employment 
agents. It cost nearly $60,000 as long ago as 1909 to 
conduct this one municipal license bureau. 

In addition to these 1,000 agencies an important 
factor in private agency development is the existence 
of a large number of padroni (foreign labor contrac- 
tors). These padroni send thousands of laborers, usu- 
ally aliens, out of the city of New York to labor camps 
and to smaller communities of the state. As municipal 
authorities have no jurisdiction beyond the corporate 
limits, the complaints arising from the misrepresenta- 
tions in such cases are, for the most part, unregistered 
and unheard. 


“Usually ignorant, illiterate and avari- 
cious, such padroni bring their men to the 


Public Employment Exchanges 11 


place where the work is to be performed under 
serious misrepresentations without funds. 
They are held against their will until suff- 
cient wages have been earned permitting 
them to leave. ‘These so-called agents are 
usually in league with licensed employment 
agencies in cities where laborers are generally 
obtained; but with the complainant out of the 
municipal jurisdiction, it is almost impossible 
to bring the licensed employment agent to 
task. The padrone is all powerful. 


“It has been found that almost six times 
aS many contract; laborers are sent to places 
outside of the cities as within them. In the 
course of the bureau’s work in about 40 coun- 
ties of the state, 39 such padroni, having privi- 
leges in 59 camps, were found. All were 
charged by various contractors on public 
works with full responsibility of obtaining a 
sufficient number of laborers for the work to 
be performed. In return therefor the padrone 
‘was given the privilege of housing the men 
and providing their commissary supplies with 
such supplies and at such prices and in accord- 
ance with such standards as he himself might 
set. The laborer thus finds himself absolutely 
at the mercy of an unscrupulous padrone, who 
is under no supervision and fears no law.” 
(Second Annual Report of the New York 
State Bureau of Industries and Immigration, 
1912, page 19.) 


This is the reception given in our country to new- 
comers who want work. The cry is raised, “The sys- 
tem is satisfactory; it only needs control and regula- 
tion.” But experience indicates the contrary. Authori- 
ties now agree that the free distribution of information 
regarding opportunities for employment is as much the 
state’s concern and duty as the care of the state high- 
ways or the distribution of information concerning im- 


12 Public Employment Exchanges 


proved methods in agriculture, and should not be 
capitalized for the gain of any group of profit seekers. 


Even if strict regulation did prevent fraud in the 
private agencies, there would still be urgent need for 
a centralized but state-wide system of free distribu- 
tion of information. The characteristic feature of un- 
employment in New York state is, on the one hand, 
congestion in New York City, and on the other, great 
areas of untilled soil up the state. It is only through 
centralization that the demands of the City of New 
York and the needs of the rest of the state can be 
efficiently co-ordinated. The intelligent distribution 
of labor demands a bird’s-eye view of the labor market 
obtainable by no system other than government opera - 
tion of the labor exchanges. 


The state can assuredly improve on a system 
under which, for example, thirty-nine agencies are 
competing for private profits within three square 
blocks on the East Side of New York City, under 
which the cost to each successful job seeker is at a 
conservative estimate $2; and under which more than 
$2,500 is caused to be refunded annually in the City 
of New York alone because of fees fraudulently col- 
lected. Experience shows that a system of state ex- 
changes tends to squeeze out the unfit private agencies. 


Philanthropic Institutions 


“A number of charitable and philanthropic 
associations have established employment of- 
fices. These have usually been conducted on 
a small scale, and with little success. Work- 
ingmen are inclined to shun charitable em- 
ployment agencies, and employers do not gen- 
erally seek efficient labor in such places. Al- 
though some of the employment bureaus, sup- 
ported by private philanthropy, are ably man- . 
aged, those interested in them would be the 
first to admit that the undertaking is too great 


Public Employment. Exchanges 13 


to be accomplished by private initiative.” (The 
Wainwright Commission Report to the Legis- 
lature of the State of New York.) 


A philanthropic institution bears the millstone 
of the word “charity” and arouses, justly or unjustly, 
the suspicion of inefficiency among business men; and 
furthermore, lacking the stamp of government (such 
as would attend state exchanges), it is neither fish nor 
flesh, and is unable to compete with the private 
agencies which spend large sums of money developing 
clienteles among employers and employees. 

The results of attempts of philanthropic institu- 
tions to solve the problems are well-known. The 
“National Employment Exchange,” in New York 
City, could supply only 1,615 positions in an- 
swer to 4,357 requests for work in 1913. The 
“Alliance Employment Bureau” fills only one- 
fourth of the workers’ demands, and the Y. M. C. A. 
meets less than one-half of the employees’ calls. The 
filling of these applications costs far more than in any 
state in the Union where state exchanges have been 
organized. Further than this, it is plain that even 
though separate philanthropic institutions do attempt 
to act as distributors of labor, it is scarcely likely that 
an exchange of information throughout the state will 
take place. Moreover, the work of such institutions is, 
for the most part, local, or rather, municipal; and it 
will help very little in aiding industrial removal from 
the centers of congestion to unused agricultural lands 
and smallercommunties. The state is the logical agent 
for a system so important, with such a large clientele, 
and with social waste demanding efficient exchange 
of information. 


B. INEFFIENCY OF PRESENT METHODS 
Cost Per Job—Estimate 
It is impossible to calculate the cost to the state 


of not connecting laborers and positions. The mere 
money, even, spent in fees to private agencies, in news- 


14 Public Employment Exchanges 


paper advertising, in actual contributions to philan- 
thropic institutions conducting free bureaus, and in car- 
fares of undirected seekers equals more than one-third 
of the total tax levied by the state for its annual budget. 


Resulting Duplication 


If the money spent under present methods brought 
commensurate results, there would be no cry for 
state labor exchanges. But at present an employer ad- 
vertises for help in several papers, not only in one, 
because all of the workers do not read the same pape: 
The employees list the positions advertised, and then 
start on the day’s tramp, which is, in some cases, from 
Brooklyn to the Bronx. At one gate fifty or a hundred 
men may be waiting for a single job, while elsewhere 
a hundred employers may be waiting, each for a 
single employee. Unnecessary duplication of work and 
expense by both parties is apparent. 


No Intelligent Distribution of Labor 


The first shrewd business man, who, connecting 
coal and ice as products for sale, realized the benefits 
to be gained by all-year work, established proof of the 
gain produced by dovetailing seasonal occupations. 
The demand at certain times of the year for harvest 
hands, trench-diggers, or railroad gangmen is far in 
excess of the demand in the same employments at 
other times of the year. Labor, therefore, should be 
shifted from one kind of work to another as the sea- 
sonal demands arise; and in addition, in this state, the 
industrial removal of immigrants, on a scientific basis, 
would lessen the evils of congestion in the cities ana 
would help supply the demand for workers back on the 
farms and up-state. 


Without a state system of labor exchanges no 
basis can exist for anticipating in an accurate manner 
these ebbs and flows of the demand for labor. With- 
out concentration of the information now collected and 
now held separately in thousands of separate organ- 


Public Employment Exchanges 15 


izations throughout the state, the possibility of look- 
ing into the future, or profiting by the past, is out of 
the question. 


Fraud 


Strict state regulation is needed to lessen fraud in 
private agencies, and to check the padroni system as 
well as to eliminate many evident misrepresentations 
in newspaper advertisements. 


In the year ending May 1, 1912, the Commissioner 
of Licenses of the City of New York reported 2,045 
complaints made by applicants against registered pri- 
vate employment agencies, the revocation of 14 licenses 
of private agents, and the investigation of at least 312 
complaints made by the public against forms of news- 
paper advertising. The operations of the unscrupulous 
padroni, moreover, are not within the scope of this 
or of any other bureau. 


Furthermore, that part of the public which uses 
the private agencies is as a rule either ignorant of the 
possibilities of recovery for fraud practised upon it, or 
unwilling to go to the expense and trouble of court 
procedure to recover for damages incurred. 


No Basis for Study of Conditions 


Under the present methods there exists no auto- 
matic, accumulative means for the collection of sta- 
tistics of unemployment. This has continued, even 
though labor problems—in one form or another—have 
taken the lead as subjects for legislation, and any scien- 
tific law-making on the program of social insurance and 
vocational guidance must be grounded on facts of rela- 
tive employment and unemployment of the workers, by 
trades, by sexes, and by ages. 


In the meantime other countries and other states 
which have found it possible to establish efficient sys- 
tems of public labor exchanges are accumulating for 
themselves this necessary information, 


II. PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES IN 
EUROPE AND AMERICA 


A. ENGLAND 


The most thoroughly organized and widespread 
system of public employment bureaus in the world is 
to be found in the United Kingdom. The system is 
administered directly by the national Board of Trade 
through a single department which combines the 
operation of the labor exchanges with the payment of 
unemployment insurance under the national insurance 
act of 1911. There were-in July, 1913, 430 lapGeaea 
changes staffed by full time officers, with which were 
connected 1,066 local agencies for the administration 
of unemployment insurance. The total regular staff 
of these 1,496 offices was 3,536 persons, of whom 
about 600 were women. 


Functions of Exchanges 


The general function of the exchanges is to col- 
lect and distribute information from employers and 
employees as to situations and applications for work. 

For the purpose of vocational guidance of chil- 
dren, the Board of Trade may establish in England 
and Wales local special advisory committees, to con- 
sist of experts on education or on other conditions 
affecting young persons, representatives of employers 
and employees, and a chairman, all appointed by the 
Board. Labor exchange officers and school inspectors 
may attend the committee meetings but may not be 
members. The committee may by themselves or in 
co-operation with other bodies or persons “give infor- 
mation, advice and assistance to boys and girls and 
their parents with respect to the choice of employ- 
ment and other matters bearing thereon.” Provision 
is made for substituting in certain cases for the special 
advisory committee another committee organized on 
a plan submitted by the local education authority for 
higher education. 


s 


Public Employment Exchanges 17 


In Scotland, to which the above special rules for 
registering juvenile applicants do not apply, the schoo. 
boards are empowered under the education act or 
1908 to maintain or to combine with other bodies to 
maintain “any agency for collecting and distributing 
inijormation as to employments open to children on 
leaving school.” In Edinburgh, for instance, a divi- 
sion of work has been arrived at by the labor ex- 
change and the school board by which the latter 
furnishes the advice and the former finds the situa- 
tions, an officer of the labor exchange occupying a 
room in the school board building to facilitate the 
interchange of information. 

Applicants residing more than five miles from 
the place of employment may be advanced transporta- 
tion, but in making advances care must be taken “to 
avoid unduly encouraging rural laborers to migrate 
from the country to the towns or between Great 
Britain and Ireland.” The officer in charge of an ex- 
change must also consult the central office in London 
before sending applicants outside the British Isles. 
Advances are not to be made in case of labor disputes 
nor in case the wages offered are lower than those 
for the same sort of work in the district from which 
the applicant for work comes. 


Methods of Operation 


The waiting rooms for men and women are 
separate, and wherever possible women clerks are 
provided to receive women’s applications. Boys and 
girls are also each dealt with separately. 

In all the larger exchanges provision is made for 
dealing separately with insurable and uninsurable 
workmen, and in the largest exchanges these cate- 
gories are further subdivided into artisans and laborers. 
In the larger exchanges the more skilled type of 
women are dealt with apart from the less skilled, . 
such as charwomen. 

The method of recording applications in use at 
the end of September, 1911, provided for two registers, 


LEGISLATIVE PROVISIONS FOR PUBLIC I 


Pee STATE PROVISIONS 

Y 

YU MUNICIPAL BUT NO STATE PROVISIONS 
a NO PROVISIONS 





Nineteen states and twelve municipalities have 


Besides the municipal exchanges maintained in the shaded 


and Ohio 


IBOR EXCHANGES IN THE UNITED STATES 





‘eady provided for public employment exchanges. 


2a, such exchanges are also maintained in Missouri, Montana 
‘ere indicated. 


y 


20 Public Employment Exchanges 


one for general employment and one for casual em- 
ployment. In the casual register were recorded with- 
out subdivision a number of employments of a pecu- 
liarly casual nature, such as dock laborers, sandwich- 
men, bill distributors and charwomen. The generas 
register was subdivided into twenty-two sections, 
namely: Building trades; other works of construction 
and roads; ships and boats; engineering and machine 
making; vehicle making; metals, tools, dies and other 
miscellaneous metal trades ; mining and quarrying trades ; 
textile trades; dress; conveyance of men, goods and 
metals; agriculture; paper, prints, books and stationery ; 
wood, furniture, fittings and decorations; chemicals, oil, 
grease, Soap, resin, etc.; bricks, cement, pottery and glass; 
food, tobacco, drink and lodging; skins, leather, hair 
and feathers; precious metals, jewels, watches, instru- 
ments and games; gas, water and electricity supply and 
sanitary service; commercial; domestic (outdoor) ; other, 
general and undefined. (Statistical Statement with Re- 
gard to the Work of the Board of Trade Labor Ex- 
changes, London, 1911.) 


All English Board of Trade labor exchanges are 
free. 


Applications are good only for seven days, bur 
may be renewed within that time for a similar period, 
and so on continuously. 


Labor is furnished in time of labor troubles, but 
either employers or employees as a body may file a 
statement as to the existence of a strike or lockout, 
and applicants for the sort of work affected must be 
shown the statement, together with any reply the em- 
ployer may have seen fit to make. No fares are ad- 
vanced to workmen going to fill vacancies caused by 
a trade dispute. 


Success of Operation 


The first labor exchanges were opened in Feb- 
ruary, 1910, making the system now almost exactly 
four years old. 


Public Employment Exchanges 21 


The system was started with eighty-two agencies. 
By July, 1913, there were 430 agencies. 

The following table shows the number of appli- 
cations for employment, the number of vacancies noti- 
fied by employers, and the number of vacancies filled, 
for specified months since the system has been in 
operation : 

GROWTH OF OPERATIONS OF BRITISH LABOR EXCHANGES, BY SPEC- 
é IFIED MONTHS 




















Month Applications for| Vacancies Vacancies 

Employment Notified Filled 
March, 1910 126,119 eae 20,395 
March,* 1911 142,382 | 47,811 Sibel 
March, 1912 178,317 | 72,650 55,650 
March, 1913 209,901 95,862 68,783 
November, 1913 226,457 90,319 69,239 
 * 5 weeks, 


The following table shows the steady growth of 
usefulness of the exchanges for the first three years of 
their existence, by years: 


GROWTH OF OPERATIONS OF BRITISH LABOR EXCHANGES, BY YEAR 








ha Applications for | Vacancies Notified Vacancies 
ep Employment by Employers Filled 
1910* 1,590,017 458,943 "314,313 
1911 2,010,113 886,242 719,043 
1912 2,423,213 1,286,205 1,051,861 








: 11 months 


The percentage in 1912 of vacancies filled to vacan- 
cies notified was 77 per cent (men, 81.1; women, 73.2; 
boys, 67.4; girls, 73.4). 


B. GERMANY 
There are in Germany 323 public bureaus, all 
maintained by local authorities. (Quarterly Bulletin of 
the International Association on Unemployment, Vol. III, 
1913, table facing p. 675.) 
Functions of Exchanges 


In discussing the functions and methods of the 
German public employment bureaus, the Munich 


22 Public Employment Exchanges 


Municipal Exchange has been chosen, as it is said by 
Mr. W. H. Beveridge to be fairly illustrative of the 
German exchanges. (W. H. Beveridge, Unemployment, 
a Problem of Industry, pp. 239, sq.) 

The objects of the: Munich office are: (1) To 
put employers and employees (especially those en- 
gaged in industry, commerce or domestic service, 
casual labor and apprentices) into communication with 
a view to employment; and (2) to supply as far as 
possible information on all questions concerning work- 
men and conditions of the employment. 

There is a special section for apprentices. Boys 
and girls in the elementary schools are told of the 
exchange a few months before they leave, and they 
are given time off to visit it and are encouraged to 
register. As a result most of them have completed 
all arrangements for work before they leave school. 

The exchange finds places outside of the city and 
even outside of Germany. In 1906 about 10,000 out 
of a total of 50,000 positions found were “externals.” 
Workmen sent to places over 25 km. (15 miles) dis- 
tant are allowed on presentation of a certificate from 
the exchange to ride on the state railways for half 
price. 


Methods of Operation 


The following information, except where other- 
wise specified, is, like that in the preceding section, 
based upon conditions in the Munich office. 

There are six separate sections, each with its own 
waiting room and superintendent—three for men (un- 
skilled, skilled workers in iron and wood, and all other 
skilled workers), one for apprentices, and two for 
women (industrial workers and domestic servants). 

No fees are charged. This applies to all Ger- 
man exchanges with one or two exceptions, such as the 
Berlin exchange, where applicants for work are 
charged a registration fee of five cents. 

Positions are filled if possible from among the ap- 
plicants at the office when a_call comes in, Calls not so 


Public Employment Exchanges 23 


filled are recorded on a blackboard, and arriving work- 
men may apply to the superintendent for them. In 
the skilled sections special hours are designated for 
special trades. Twice a week lists of situations still 
unfilled are posted in public places, inserted in the 
press and sent to the neighboring exchanges. 


Four principal policies in time of labor disputes 
have been adopted by the German exchanges: 


(1) To ignore disputes altogether, and to send 
men just as if there were no dispute. (Nurnberg, Ber- 
lin till 1905.) 


(2) To record vacancies caused by a dispute and 
to inform applicants of such vacancies, but to give the 
applicants formal notice of the disputes. (Berlin 
since 1905, Cologne since 1904, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, 
Frankfurt, etc.) 


(3) To suspend operations within the range of 
the dispute during its continuance. (Cologne till 1904, 
Barmen.) 


(4) To act in each case upon the decision of the 
local industrial court. (Munich till 1898, Leipzig.) 

The second of these alternatives is most widely 
followed and approved. 


Cost of Operation 


The cost of several exchanges was reported in 
1905 or in 1906 as follows: Cologne, $2,590; Dussel- 
dorf, $2,435; Frankfurt, $5,185; Freiburg, $2,600;. 
Munich, $11,110; Strassburg, $2,600 (after deducting 
$570 received as fees from employers). In most cases 
rent is excluded. 


Taking the above figures as they stand, the 
average cost per position filled is: Cologne and Dussel- 
dorf, 8% cents; Frankfurt, 13 cents; Freiburg, 14 
cents; Strassburg, 16 cents; Munich, 20 cents. 


24 Public Employment. Exchanges 


| Success of Operation 
et 323 bureaus considered were founded as fol- 
lows: 


Refore (190530. waders Soe a ee ee 124 
1901+ 190 5 Kas. Sic ade tae Sule eed Re eee Te 
1906-19 LO tan as 5 cate oes sini cyto» Goce ieee 70 
TTVA LL oliclc bony panis ahie oo dole athe eee 42 
Datesunknown Oy sho cied stadiele oe eee 14 

ORs (oSves hoes eee be ee tee a Fae 


The number of places filled, reported by these 
bureaus, is: 


1909— 731,848 (230 bureaus rnoeee 


1910— 877,042 (250 “ ) 
1911—1,055,784 (267 “ bbe 
C. FRANCE 


There are 162 public employment bureaus in 
‘France, all maintained, like those of Germany, by local 
authorities. (Quarterly Bulletin of .the International 
Association on Unemployment, Vol. III, 1913, table 
facing p. 735.) 


The following methods of operation are required, 
by a decree of October 25, 1911, of all municipal em- 
ployment exchanges which desire to share in the sub- 
vention offered by the national government. (Bulletin 
of the International Labor Office, Vol. VII, page 380.) 


(1) The exchange must be placed under the 
control of a representative committee, composed one- 
half of employers and one-half of workers in the prin- 
cipal trades likely to make use of the exchange, with a 
disinterested president who has no vote. 


(2) The bureau must continue to function in 
case of strike or lockout, but must warn applicants, 
who would be affected, of the existence of the dispute. 


(3) The bureau must fill an average of at least 
twenty-five situations a month. 


Public Employment Exchanges 25 
Success of Operation 


The 162 French public bureaus were founded in 
the following years: . 


MELOLCH SU LES Acar ils wiles ce said tie’s 40 
196121905. <7 inte cee los MSE tL OMe ote 70 
Meets LON reels Coatat a. fc a ett a/t = sharia 37 
er) ee ME ee et a gl ee Pe oY 11 
Date PUNKTOWE: oi. od cose science snein es 4 

EL Oy cal Vagrant ie Meagedtcress Cres ieidinh’r 8's:wib3 162 


The bureaus reported filling places as follows: 


EOE R ehh Gs STAY ao hea Hi eae Be PPC 84,122 
POG Ree ie nite ea ae enw wart ese 95,638 
PAD CNT OH eisai ea als ate oot et as 99,333 


D. SWITZERLAND 


.. Switzerland has five state employment bureaus, 
in addition to eleven maintained by cities. (Quarterly 
Bulletin of the International Association on Unemploy- 
ment, Vol. III, 1913, table facing p. 887.) 


Methods of Operation 
Eighteen bureaus subsidized by the national gov- 
ernment are required by federal law to continue their 
regular functions in case of a labor dispute, but to 
give notice of the dispute to all applicants, whether em- 
ployers or employees. | é 


- Cost of Operation 


The cost of operation of ten of the eleven Swiss 
municipal exchanges is given as follows for 1911: 


TL@E Ti Cie 2.5 aie Ted fier diet is Chew obe’s'e et Gis Bie $3,809 
ele oie A eta ae «te Cts. eaicicte 943 
RAUSANIE wc. hie «oats Haenid o's asatd Petia 773 
Picetne CO, MONS) .sicess sce cee. 950 
MOTSENACH |...) cies. cd eac we clean 1,200 
Schaffhausen ........ Ape RAT ee se 545 
Shee Cee Pes fl cuits GEA of bas oles sled o aie 2,120 
PVSTEPOLENTO@ get's stats a's stertled 6 800 
VAS CE ae BTA e's iuin ali ths odes are ui sharals 20 


26 Public Employment Exchanges 


EK. THE UNITED STATES 


Provision for public employment exchanges has 
already been made in the United States by nineteen 
states and by twelve municipalities (see map, pp. 18, 
19). 

The nineteen states which have made such pro- 
vision, with the year of the law and the number and 
location of the offices, are: 

Colorado, 1907, three offices—Colorado Springs, Den- 
ver, Pueblo. 

Connecticut, 1905, five offices—Bridgeport, Hartford, 
New Haven, Norwich, Waterbury. 

Illinois, 1899, eight offices—Chicago (three offices), 
Rockford, Rock Island, Springfield, East St. 
Louis, Peoria. 

Indiana, 1909, five offices—Evansville, Fort Wayne, 
Indianapolis, South Bend, Terre Haute. 

Kansas, 1901, one office—Topeka. 

Kentucky, 1906, one office—Louisville. 

Maryland, 1902, one office—Baltimore. 

Massachusetts, 1906, four offices—Boston, Fall River, 
Springfield, Worcester. 

Michigan, 1905, five offices—Detroit, Grand Rapids, 
Jackson, Kalamazoo, Saginaw. 

Minnesota, 1905, three offices—Duluth, Minneapolis, 
St. Paul. 

Missouri, 1899, three offices—Kansas City, St. Joseph, 
St. Louis. 

Montana, 1913—(Not yet in operation). 

Nebraska, 1897, one office—Lincoln. 

Ohio, 1890, five offices—Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colum- 
bus, Dayton, Toledo. 

Oklahoma, 1908, three offices—Enid, Muskogee, Ok- 
lahoma City. 

Rhode Island, 1908, one office—Providence. 

South Dakota, 1913, one office—Pierre. 

West Virginia, 1901, one office—Wheeling. 

Wisconsin, 1901, four offices—La Crosse, Milwau- 
kee, Oshkosh, Superior. 


Public Employment Exchanges 27 


During the last two years Illinois has increased 
from six offices to eight, Indiana from one office to 
five, and Massachusetts from three offices to four. 


The employment exchanges maintained by mu- 
nicipalities are located in Los Angeles and Sacramento 
(California), Kansas City (Missouri), Butte and Great 
Falls (Montana), Newark (New Jersey), Cleveland 
(Ohio), Portland (Oregon), and Everett, Seattle, 
Spokane and Tacoma (Washington). 


The average per capita cost of filling positions 
through some of the bureaus is given as follows in 
Bulletin 109 of the U. S. Bureau of Labor: 


AVERAGE PER CAPITA COST OF FILLING POSITIONS THROUGH 
PuBLIC EMPLOYMENT BUREAUS IN THE UNITED STATES 











State 1894 | 1899 | 1904 | 1908 | 1909 | 1910 | 1911 
lal is a a Ae ee ed eR $.69 | $.71 
PETER OMOME lake eal oe | aa cee tlasee 6 1.04* 
Meta US OLICES)} aces | case | cscs e losses fvoce. 8192 yg 
eA OTICES Jr Xn sedi) Mais co. |-e'ore aie $.834 . 601 | .282| .287 
Seereerrr stint 1 OUICE)|| 6. | wage bac cee bey oes EGOS Lees hk: das ee 





Washgton (4 offices) |/$.2293/$.0449/$.0636 0505) aise, Pi gee 





* Varying from $.92 in one city to $2.03 in another. 


Additional information on this point is given by 
Bulletin Vol. 2, No. 9, of the Wisconsin Industrial 
Commission, which is devoted to a report on “The 
Wisconsin Free Employment Offices’, and which 
states that in 1911 the cost in Wisconsin was about 
35 cents per position filled, while in Colorado it was 
41 cents and in Oklahoma 27 cents. It will be seen 
that the cost as stated varies greatly, ranging from 4 
cents per position in Washington to $2.03 in one 
Massachusetts city. 


Methods and details of operation differ greatly in 
the various states, but the data here given for Illinois, 
Indiana and Wisconsin will sufficiently illustrate the 
workings of the system in America. 


28 Public Employment Exchanges 
Illinois 


The Illinois public employment bureaus make no 
effort in the direction of vocational guidance or indus- 
trial removal. 

In at least three of the eight offices now existing, 
a separate department is maintained for each of the 
sexes, but no further division is made. No fees are 
charged; in a few cases applicants with large num- 
bers of dependents are given priority. In case of a 
strike, the usual policy is to accept the application for 
help, but to notify applicants for work of the exist- 
ence of a strike. Asa result, it is said, workers seldom 
accept the positions offered. ‘The first law in Illinois 
creating free public employment offices (in 1899) was 
declared unconstitutional four years later because of 
the provision that applications for help to fill places 
vacant because of a strike were not to be received. 

The 1913 appropriation for public employment 
offices in Illinois was $50,735, or nearly $6,342 for each 
of the eight offices. 

The Illinois public employment office system has 
been in operation since 1899, at which time three 
offices were opened. The following table shows the 
business done for the first twelve years: 


OPERATIONS OF ILLINOIS PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT BUREAUS, 1900-1911 











Year Ending ||Applications for} Applications Positions 
Sept. 30 Employment for Help Secured 
DOOD: ont: tote we coke 36,949 35,542 31,218 
A Beg ete teat 3 | 25,297 26,623 22,766 
IDO FAN CE 44,900 47,497 40,181 
1003 5 css.» sieieiepie 43,510 45,559 39,227 
LUO rae's as alae 37,493 36,710 31,724 
LOOT ti wha wees 45,323 44,577 39,598 
UG isis sre eax os 57,489 60,908 53,617 
1907 Oi este sek 59,361 65,872 55,417 
L908 oon ital alas 45,373 40,453 34,736 
ES me 48,532 47,921 41,549 
1010 Sires. peti cs eS 68,730 77,620 62,564 
VER bn ts lynn AP lhe 76,127 68,228 59,827 





Total, 12 years 589,084 599,510 512,424 


Public Employment Exchanges '29 


The growth has not been continuous, the figures 
in all columns undergoing many fluctuations, but on 
the whole there has been a substantial increase in the 
use of ta bureaus by both employers and employees. 


Indiana 

The Indiana public employment bureau performs 
the ordinary employment office work. Although it 
places boys and girls, it makes no attempt at voca- 
tional guidance, and no effert is directed toward in- 
dustrial removal. 

The bureau makes no special provision for Heats 
ing with women applicants, and all sorts of labor are 
handled together. The nearest approach to a fee in 
the United States is the provision in the Indiana law 
that applicants may pay postage on replies, but those 
unable to pay are not barred from use of the bureau. 
In the first quarter-year of the bureau’s existence 
nearly half the applicants placed could not pay the 
postage. Priority is given to workmen longest reg- 
istered, or to those who have dependents. Sometimes 
those having telephones are favored when quick com- 
munication is necessary. 

The first office was opened in the autumn of 1909, 
since when four new branches have been opened, mak- 
ing five in all. 

The following table shows the applications for 
employment and for help in the first three years of 
the bureau’s existence: | | 





OPERATIONS OF INDIANA PuBLIC EMPLOYMENT Bureaus, 1909-1912 _ 


Applications for Em- Applications for 
ployment Help 


i Not i A Not 
Filed | Placed | pyiceq| Filed | Filled | pig 












































Oct. ’09-Sept. 710} 5,058 | 2,387 | 2,671 | 2,857 | 2,387 470 
‘Oct. ’10-Sept. '11}|. 6,016 | 3,662 | 2,354 | 4,823 | 3,662 | 1,161 
Oct. ’11-Sept. '12)| 6,486 | 5,104 | 1,382 | 7,649 | 5,104 | 2,545 


TW an oe 17,560 | 11,153 | 6,407 | 15,329 | 11,153 | 4,176 












































In Indiana, therefore, there has been an’ unin- 
‘terrupted expansion of the usefulness of the bureaus. 


30 Public Employment Exchanges 


Wisconsin 


The functions of the Wisconsin Industrial Com- 
mission include doing “all in its power to bring to- 
gether employers seeking employees and working peo- 
ple seeking employment”. It is also to “aid in induc- 
ing minors to undertake promising skilled employ- 
ments”. The offices have attempted to guide boys into 
the less crowded and better paying positions, but 
recommend that a vocational bureau be established to 
pay special attention to the needs of juvenile appli- 
cants. 


In the Milwaukee office separate departments are 
maintained for men and for women, and common 
laborers are separated from the more skilled workers 
and clerks and boys. No fees are charged. When 
employment is at its worst, as in the winter months, 
married men and residents are usually given prefer- 
ence. Applicants referred to the office by the Asso- 
ciated Charities are also given preference. If the em- 
ployer asks for a union man, one is sent, but other- 
wise the first qualified applicant is referred to the 
place. As in Illinois, the original law establishing the 
offices, in 1901, was repealed in 1903 because of a clause 
prohibiting the offices from accepting applications from 
employers whose men were on strike. Since then the 
offices accept such applications, but notify the applicants 
of the existence of the trouble. 


The total expenditure in Wisconsin for the year 
ending June 30, 1913, was $13,122.81, making an aver- 
age of $3,280.70 for each of the four offices. The cost 
per job is reported as 35 cents. 


The system was started with two offices in 1901. . 
The number of positions filled more than doubled 


Public Employment Exchanges 31 


during the first nine years, despite temporary fluctua- 
tions. The figures are: 


POSITIONS FILLED BY WISCONSIN PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES, 








1901-1911 
Year Positions Filled Year Positions Filled 
1901-2 7,380 1907-08 16,155 
1903-—4* 18,426 1908-09 15,465 
1904—5 10,090 1909-10 ° 23,852 
1905-6 17,332 1910-11 16,296 
1906-7 AS ML akag a Ll lal fore a bart ile die Ok Reread 

















* Two years. 


The industrial commission took charge of the 
offices about the beginning of 1912. The followiny 
table gives the operations for the last six months of 
1911 (under the old administration) compared with 
operations for the last six months of 1912 (under the 
commission) : 


PosITIONS FILLED BY WISCONSIN PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES, 
JuLY-DECEMBER, 1911, AND JULY-DECEMBER, 1912 





July-December, | July-Decemter, 
1911 1912 





Applications for Work..... 12,949 20,266 
Applications for Help...... 11,585 26,801 


Referred to Positions...... 6,882 21,509 
Positions filled............ vies Maye 10,510 


It will be seen that under the commission the 
number of applications for work has almost doubled, 
the number of applications for help has more than 
doubled, and the work of referring applicants to 
employers has more than tripled. 


III. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A SYSTEM OF 
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES 
: IN NEW YORK STATE 





After careful consideration of existing methods in 
New York’s unorganized labor market, and the suc- 
cessful operation of public employment bureaus in 
Europe and America, the following recommendations 
as to the essential features of a proposed act pro- 
viding for an efficient system of public employment 
exchanges in New York state are respectfully sub- 
mitted : 

1. The establishment within the New York State 
Department of Labor of a Bureau of Employment. 

2. The organization under such Bureau of free 
public employment bureaus and appropriate branches 
in the cities of New York, Buffalo, Syracuse, Roches- 
ter, Utica, Jamestown, Albany and Binghamton, with 
provision for local advisory committees made up of 
representatives of employers, employees and the gen- 
eral public. 

3. Provision for careful records and systematic 
reports, with authority to require uniform reports 
from private agencies. 

4. No fee or compensation to be charged to or 
received from any person seeking employment or 
desiring to employ labor through any of such offices. 

5. Absolute neutrality in time of labor dis- 
turbance, but information of the existence of a labor 
disturbance to be furnished to the applicant, whether 
employer or employee. 

6. Ample provision for publicity concerning the © 
work of the office and the state of the labor market. 

7. Sufficient appropriation to make exchanges 
efficient in the highest possible degree, for which 
$75,000 annually is regarded as a minimum. 

A tentative budget for a system of public employ- 
' ment exchanges in New York state, drawn from expe- 
rience in other states, is presented on page 33. 

The tentative draft of an act to put the above 
recommendations into legislative form is printed on 
page 34. 


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DRAFT OF 


AN ACT 


To amend the labor law, in relation to the establish- 
ment of a bureau of employment. 


The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate 
and Assembly, do enact as follows: 


Section 1. Section forty-two of chapter thirty-six of the 
laws of nineteen hundred and nine, entitled “An act relating 
to labor, constituting chapter thirty-one of the consolidated 
laws,” as amended by chapter one hundred and forty-five 
of the laws of nineteen hundred and thirteen, is hereby 
amended to read as follows: 


Sec. 42. Bureaus. The department of labor shall have 
[four] five bureaus as follows: inspection; employment; 
statistics and information; mediation and arbitration; and 
industries and immigration. There shall be such other 
bureaus in the department of labor as the commissioner of 
labor may deem necessary. 


Sec. 2. Such chapter is hereby amended by inserting 
therein a new article, to be article five-a and to read as 
follows: 


ARTICLE 5-A. 


Bureau of Employment. 


Sec. 66. Chief superintendent. The bureau of employ- 
ment shall be under the immediate charge of the chief 
superintendent. 


Sec. 67. Public employment offices. The bureau o1 
employment shall! establish and operate one or more public 
employment offices in the cities of New York, Buffalo, Syra- 
cuse, Rochester, Utica, Jamestown, Albany: and Binghamton 
and in such other cities or towns as the commissioner may 
direct. Each office shall, subject to the supervision and 
direction of the chief superintendent, be in charge of an 
officer or an employee of the department designated by the 


EXPLANATION—Matter in ttalics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. 


- 


Public Employment Exchanges | 35 


commissioner. Each office shall use such means as the 
commissioner may direct to bring together persons seeking 
employees and those seeking employment. 


Sec. 68. Advisory committees. The commissioner may 
appoint an advisory committee for each office, the members 
of which shall serve without compensation. 


Sec. 68-a. Applications. Each office shall receive appli- 
cations from persons seeking employees and from those 
seeking employment. Such applications may be for any 
class of labor or services, manual, professional, or otherwise. 
The applications shall be in such form and shall be recorded 
and made public in such manner as the commissioner may 
direct. 


Sec. 68-b. Advertising. Each office may publish lists 
of applications received and may advertise in newspapers, 
trade journals or elsewhere to secure the co-operation of 
employers and employees. 


Sec. 68-c. Rooms for women. At each office there shall 
be a separate room for women. 


Sec. 68-d. Labor disturbances. Each office shall give 
notice of the existence of any labor disturbance to all appli- 
cants who may be affected thereby, but shall not refuse 
its services to any person by reason of such disturbance. 


Sec. 68-e. Co-operation with other employment bureaus. 
The bureau may co-operate with any other public employ- 
ment bureau, whether operated by a municipality, another 
state or by the United States government. 


Sec. 68-f. Statistics. The bureau of employment shall 
furnish such data to the bureau of statistics and information 
as the commissioner may direct. 


Sec. 68-g. Fees prohibited. No fee or other compensa- 
tion shall be charged or received, directly or indirectly, from 
persons applying for employment or help through the public 
employment offices. 


Sec. 3. This act shall take effect immediately. 


b . 
at ge 
Pr 


Cie. 


ae 


